Sparrow Hawk

After a very windy night, on a very windy morning, we had this amazing visitor. Looking up from the breakfast table, to the bird feeders, there was suddenly this new bird sitting there. And then it just sat there, giving us time to look well, turn the camera on, fetch the binoculars etc.  Our first sparrow hawk had arrived and it perched firmly in place for about 15 minutes - wonderful!
It may have been perched but it was still very lively, looking around all the time, taking a great interest in any small birds it spotted. As might be expected the small birds were suddenly very uninterested in feeding just here!
Have you ever wondered if the universe is sending you a message?
Yesterday I read an interesting journal entry written by laurie54, in which she writes “that getting the shot is a lot less important than soaking in the experience”.
Just before seeing the sparrow hawk I read an article in today’s Guardian about moments of wonder, and if they make us nicer people (answer - they do!)
A few days ago I listened to a TED talk from 2010 about how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” experience the world in different ways.
Then I get to study a sparrow hawk at relatively close quarters. I watch it, I take a burst of photos, put down the camera and watch it some more. I wonder at how mobile it’s neck is as it looks around. I get to watch it through the binoculars and see it balancing in the gusts of wind. Finally it goes, in blur of movement it dives backwards off the branch and zooms down into the ditch alongside the field, where the small birds often perch waiting their turn at the feeder. I don’t go out to look. If it caught its breakfast in the undergrowth it wouldn’t want to be disturbed, and if it didn’t it would be gone before I got out there.
I’m so glad I got the time to both experience the wonder and get the photo!  It also makes me happy that I’m feeding the small birds, and indirectly, the hunting creatures that prey  on those small birds!
Janet (HarlingDarling) also blipped the sparrowhawk and wrote about the day.